Cell phones may affect sperm quality (II)
posted in - Medical Updates, - Palmdoc |In a follow-up to an earlier observational study, Agarwal and colleagues have performed additional lab tests on semen. CNN reports
In the small study, Agarwal’s team took semen samples from 32 men and brought them to the lab. Each man’s sample was placed into small, conical tubes and divided into two parts: a test group and a control group. The control group was unexposed to cell phone emissions, but kept under the same conditions and temperature as the test group.
The semen in the test group was placed 2.5 centimeters from an 850 MHz cell phone in talk mode for 1 hour. Researchers say that 850 MHz is the most commonly used frequency.
They used the measurement of 2.5 centimeters to mimic the distance between the trouser pocket and the testes. Agarwal reasoned that many men keep their active cell phones in their pants pocket while talking on their headsets.
Overall, researchers found an increase in oxidative stress such as a significant increase in free radicals and oxidants and a decrease in antioxidants. Agarwal says that equals a decrease in sperm’s quality, including motility and viability. Evidence of oxidative stress can appear under other conditions, including exposure to certain environmental pollutants or infections in the urinary genital tract.
“On average, there was an 85 percent increase in the amount of free radicals for all the subjects in the study. Free radicals have been linked to a variety of diseases in humans including cancer,” said Agarwal. Free radicals have been linked to decreased sperm quality in previous studies.
It’s too early to be certain as the study is a small one but it lends some lab evidence to the earlier observation. I guess the next logical step would be larger clinical studies.
Related MMR posts
Cellphone Use May Lower Sperm Counts and Impair Male Fertility
Heavy mobile use damages sperm?
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September 21st, 2008 at 11:36 pm
Thats Dr Ashok Agarwal from CCF..
Man! I know him so well.. He was my research co-ordinator
while my time in Cleveland Clinic.
The research on Cell phones was ongoing at that time..
They have a lot of interesting things coming up..
There was one Dr Hussein Abdelrazik who was working on preserving ovarian tissue from the adverse effects of Chemotherapy and re-implant them back once the patient has his cancer resolved and is off chemotherapy. Thus preserving the patient’s fertility.